'My family suffered murder-suicide horror but huge change could save others'

A woman whose twin sister and nieces were shot dead with a legally-owned weapon has praised a new crackdown on owning firearms.

Emma Ambler, 45, told the Mirror she felt the Government was finally listening to the urgent need to strengthen gun licensing laws that failed to protect her family.

Her twin sister Kelly Fitzgibbons wasshot dead by her partner Robert Needham, along with their daughters Ava, 4 and Lexi, 2, and the family dog Billy, at their home in Woodmancote, West Sussex, in March 2020, before turning the gun on himself.

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He had been granted a shotgun licence despite being caught lying on his application about a previous conviction and treatment for depression.

NHS worker Emma said: "When I found out how easy it was for him to get that gun, despite certain circumstances, that's what motivated me to do some campaigning - because it just felt so wrong."

The mum-of-two went on: “What made me really angry is I said to the police officer, 'How has he been able to get that gun licence?'

"And I just always remember their reply was, 'Loads of people lie on gun applications for various reasons.' So it wasn't even like anybody had said to me, 'Oh, my God, I'm sorry this is a mistake."

She added: "This is how the system works. It's okay to lie, and it's okay to have this, and it's okay to do that, you can still get a gun."

Home Office Minister Jess Phillips invited Emma to her home in Birmingham on Monday to discuss new controls on gun ownership.

People with a record of violence or domestic abuse will be prevented from owning firearms, with police ordered to interview partners or family members of applicants to spot signs of domestic abuse or other red flags.

From Tuesday, applicants for shotgun licences will need two references rather than one, bringing it in line with rules for other firearms.

Evidence of dishonesty or concerns about a person’s integrity will also bring into question their suitability to own a gun.

This would close the loophole in the case of Emma's sister's killer, by specifically flagging up lying on the form or withholding details about relevant health conditions.

Emma, from Birmingham, said: "For the first time I did think someone is starting to listen a bit and appreciate that the guidance just isn't good enough."

After years of campaigning in honour of "wonderful" sister and nieces, she said: "When you see some changes being made, it makes you think at least something is going to change for someone else hopefully."

The move came after concerns raised by coroners following the fatal shootings in Plymouth.

Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother Maxine, 51, and then shot dead four others, including a three-year-old girl, in the Keyham area of Plymouth in August 2021.

An inquest found "catastrophic failures" in the licensing system allowed him to own a shotgun despite his history of violence.

Controls on shotgun ownership could be made even stricter after another consultation, due to be launched later this year on improving the rules on private firearms sales.

It follows the case of Nicholas Prosper, who killed his mother, Juliana Falcon, and siblings Giselle and Kyle Prosper in Luton in 2024.

The 19-year-old bought a shotgun and 100 cartridges after forging a licence. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 49 years after pleading guilty to the murders earlier this year.

Ms Phillips told the Mirror: “It’s a real privilege in our country to hold a gun licence. It's not something that the vast majority of people in our country do.

“And it's not an innate right, either. It is a privilege that comes with caveats to it, because it can be - in Emma's family's case - potentially lethal.”

The minister, who has become friends with Emma through years of campaigning, said: "Making sure the guidance that we have has the voices of those who can be affected by gun ownership, not just the voices of gun owners, is really what I think this guidance reflects."

Ms Phillips said: "People think that domestic abuse happens to a certain sort of person, or that these homicides, however they are perpetrated, happen to someone else.

"It is absolutely, completely possible. Like Emma was just saying, (she) didn't think about guns until her twin sister and her two nieces were killed in a matter of minutes because of the gun licensing laws in our country.

"Of course, we can rest on our laurels. It's better than in America. And actually, we're seeing a declining ownership of guns and a fall in incidents of gun crime,

"But when you're talking about domestic abuse and domestic homicides or these sorts of incidents like in Keyham, it can happen to anyone."

Ms Phillips dismissed the prospect of a backlash from farmers and other gun owners.

"I get a lot of backlash about a lot of things," she said. "Safeguarding trumps everything."

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